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If I told you there was one simple thing you could do so that you’d stick to your diet, quit carbs, ditch sugar, or clean up your diet what would you say? It’s ridiculous to expect perfection, especially when it comes to dieting. That’s downright impossible. As a delightfully imperfect human being, you may “slip” […]

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If you find it hard to say no to candies, cookies, chips, it may be because your brain is addicted to them, according to a new study.
In short, your brain is actually hooked on junk food, which, of course, leads to weight gain and obesity and other harmful dieases.
But promising news came out recently, which reveals taht you you can literally ‘reprogram’ your brain so that you not only break your food addictions, but you actually develop a preference for healthier non-fattening foods so you lose weight.
For my part, I’m simply thrilled by this exciting news.
You may wonder, though, is this just too good to be true? Not so!
Some definitive proof this is possible came from a September 2014 study by scientists at Tufts University and Harvard Medical School. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to show how the brains of volunteers had been altered during a six-month experiment, during which they forsake high caloric foods for low caloric ones.
Thirteen overweight or obese adults between the ages of 21 and 65 were placed in either an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group received 19 hour-long support group sessions during the 24 weeks in which they were taught how to use portion-controlled menus and recipe suggestions designed for high-satiety. The foods consumed in this plan were low-glycemic index carbohydrates along with high fiber and high protein (known as the idiet.) FYI, these are the foods I recommend, too, as you can discover in Beyond Sugar Shock.
These foods” have “a slower digestion profile and reduction fluctuations in blood glucose that could reduce hunger,” according to the study. The control group received no such counseling or support.
What’s intriguing is that before the experiment began and six months later, on its completion, all study participants underwent the fMRI scans as they were shown 40 food and 40 non-food images. The foods were half high caloric and half low caloric.
While being scanned, the volunteers rated the desirability of the images they saw on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being undesirable and 4 being extremely desirable. Those who had gone through the six months of intervention measured significantly less response in the striatum region of their brains (an area governing reward processing) when shown the high caloric foods and more responsivity when shown the low caloric images.
It was as if the brain charges they previously got from these foods had been disconnected. They also achieved significant weight loss, whereas the control group lost little weight and still had no control over how their brains craved certain unhealthy foods.
One of the study co-authors, Sai Krupa Das, Ph.D., who is with the United States Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center, observed how the weight loss program they used with high-fiber, low glycemic foods worked hand in hand with behavior change education to bring about the remarkable changes in weight and brain activity related to cravings.
“The weight loss program is specifically designed to change how people react to different foods, and our study shows those who participated in it had an increased desire for healthier foods along with a decreased preference for unhealthy foods, the combined effects of which are probably critical for sustainable weight control,” according to Dr. Das. “To the best of our knowledge this is the first demonstration of this important switch.”
Sources: “Training your brain to prefer healthy foods.” Tufts University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-09-brain-healthy-foods.html.
“Pilot randomized trial demonstrating reversal of obesity-related abnormalities in reward system responsivity to food cues with a behavioral intervention.” Deckersbach T. Et al. Nutrition & Diabetes. September 2014. http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v4/n9/full/nutd201426a.html
iDiet program. https://www.theidiet.com/content/food
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It’s my honor to be included in the Mindful Eating Summit, which is presented this week by my friend and colleague, Susan Albers, Psy.D, author of Eating Mindfully and a Cleveland Clinic psychologist.
For this amazing Mindful Eating Summit, Dr. Albers has interviewed 20 of the world’s top leading eating experts, who share information that you won’t hear anywhere else.
In the Mindful Eating Summit, the experts (of which I’m one) teach you how to boost your nutrition, end mindless overeating, and stop feeling guilty when you eat.
You’ll have a chance to learn tools, strategies and techniques you can apply right now to eat healthier.
Plus, you’ll discover the cutting edge science that is shaping the world of nutrition and how you can apply it right now.
Here are a few of the presenters in the Mindful Eating Conference, all of whom offer their own rich, in-depth perspective on health, wellness and mindfulness:
Dr. Brian Wansink Director of Cornell Food & Brand Lab and best-selling author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
Evelyn Tribole Award-winning registered dietitian an author of Intuitive Eating (co-author)
Dr. Jim Painter Producer of Portion Size Me, a documentary about fast food and health and featured on CBS’s Early Show
Margaret Floyd, author of Eat Naked.
Dr. David Katz, author of Disease Proof and contributor to O, the Oprah Magazine
Dr. Daniel Siegel, Professor of at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center.
Dr. Alan Christianson specializes in natural endocrinology with a focus on thyroid disorders.
Jonathan Bailor, author of The Calorie Myth
Trudy Scott, author of The Anti-Anxiety Food Solution and the upcoming Anxiety Summit in November
And yours truly.
MindfuleatingyouWhen you sign up for the Mindful Eating Summit, you’ll also receive a free ebook, The Emotional Eater’s Tool Kit, so you can start taking charge of your eating right now.
The Mindful Eating Summit is presented by Susan Albers, Psy.D., a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic who specializes in eating issues, weight loss, body image concerns and mindfulness. Dr. Albers conducts mindful eating workshops across the country. She is author of six books about mindful eating, including EatQ: Unlock the Weight-Loss Power of Emotional Intelligence and 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food.
Catch all of our interviews now. Just sign up for the Mindful Eating Summit.